The IRS has approached this issue previously (as reported above). There's even been an NPR story about the taxation issues surrounding online income. And they really should hammer out [i]some[/i] sort of consistent policy, as it is becoming more and more possible to maintain an entire existence using only resources obtained in virtual environments (probably the easiest instance to cite is Magic Online, in which it is still legal and within the terms of the user agreement to buy and sell virtual objects).
If some people are paying taxes on their income and some people are not due to its etheric electronicity, the system should be reformed to ensure equal burden. (Of course, the system has [b]miles[/b] to go before we get to anywhere like 'equal burden', but ya gotta start somewhere - and online gamers have much less resources with which to contest an IRS ruling than the energy industry.)
To be honest, I think that the threat of IRS involvement in MMO commerce is a rather wan and pale threat to the Internet compared to the ongoing debate on net neutrality. I can't say I'm entirely in favor of forcing some ISPs to suck up unlimited bandwidth costs - but I think the consequences of the online equivalent of the difference between I-94 and I-294 are far more dire. :(
If some people are paying taxes on their income and some people are not due to its etheric electronicity, the system should be reformed to ensure equal burden. (Of course, the system has [b]miles[/b] to go before we get to anywhere like 'equal burden', but ya gotta start somewhere - and online gamers have much less resources with which to contest an IRS ruling than the energy industry.)
To be honest, I think that the threat of IRS involvement in MMO commerce is a rather wan and pale threat to the Internet compared to the ongoing debate on net neutrality. I can't say I'm entirely in favor of forcing some ISPs to suck up unlimited bandwidth costs - but I think the consequences of the online equivalent of the difference between I-94 and I-294 are far more dire. :(
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